LogFAQs > #913865881

GanglyKhan posted...

The U.S couldn't just go in and level the country. They would have been in and out in weeks if it was total war.

It mainly couldn't BE a total war scenario because, even beyond the PR considerations, there was a fear that significant operations could invite direct Chinese or even Soviet retaliation. Instead, pretty much everyone involved was forced to tiptoe around and the US became mired in a defensive war (which ran counter to the actual strengths and training of the US military). Even once operations turned more offensive, there still wasn't really a concerted push to actually invade North Vietnam. Most operations were meant to defend southern territory, which in turn put the US on the back foot from word one.

But even using more conventional methods the US potentially could have won a war of attrition there over the long term. It was rising anti-war sentiment at home that eventually made victory untenable.

Most people don't really realize that the Tet Offensive (ie, the thing that really swung anti-war sentiment in the US into overdrive, creating the impression that the war was unwinnable and the US was sacrificing lives for nothing) was actually a major failure for the north, and it was a huge hit on their morale. One that was reverse once they realized that American resolve was wavering as well, and suddenly a realistic end to combat was in sight if they could simply outlast American morale at home. Tet was a military failure, but a PR victory - and it was pretty much the final nail in the coffin of the US having a chance of victory.

Had the US treated Vietnam less like Korea and more like Japan in terms of military strategy, we'd very likely be living in a very different world right now.


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